68% Of New Zealand’s Small And Medium Businesses Have No Plans To Adopt AI

Wednesday, 18 September 2024, 11:16 am
Press Release: Spark

New findings from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) revealed that 68% of New Zealand small and medium businesses (SMEs) have no plans to evaluate or invest in AI technology, citing a lack of understanding and perceived absence of value as the key barriers to AI adoption.

This finding comes off the back of Spark and NZIER’s research on the state of New Zealand’s productivity earlier this year. The report identified that advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence can enable productivity gains far beyond labour productivity alone, yet uptake in New Zealand remains low.

This inspired Spark’s ambition to accelerate Aotearoa businesses one technology generation forward.

Following the success of its Executive AI for Business Mini-MBA, Spark is now setting its sights on the wider business community, offering 2,000 places over four cohorts of a week-long AI Foundations course, equipping participants with foundational AI skills to help improve day-to-day productivity.

Spark Consumer and SME Director Greg Clark says that Spark has set a target to support 2,000 business professionals to become AI literate in the next 12 months.

“AI has huge potential to improve productivity, ways of working, and the outcomes we deliver for our customers. To lift productivity in New Zealand we need to improve AI literacy across the business sector, and to support this process we are thrilled to expand our partnership with Section Business School and build on the work our local Business Hubs are doing to equip New Zealand businesses with the right technology to set them up for the future,” says Clark.

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“SMEs make up a large population of the business community in New Zealand, and Spark supports over 100,000 of them for their technology needs. In a high-inflation environment, the number one concern for our SME customers is escalating costs, which is driving a focus on productivity and efficiency. We know that AI can provide significant productivity gains, which is why it’s so important that we bring New Zealand SMEs on the AI journey.”

Edmundo Ortega from Machine & Partners, a US-based technical consultancy that helps organisations prototype AI experiences that create real business value, will bring his expertise to New Zealand as an instructor of the course.

“I'm excited to work directly with New Zealand businesses through the week-long AI Foundations course,” says Ortega. “Understanding and using AI is no longer optional – it is essential for businesses that want to get ahead. Through AI Foundations, participants will learn how to integrate AI into their workflows to enhance productivity, master the art of writing high-quality prompts, and leverage AI’s capabilities for task management. By the end of the week, participants will have the skills to improve their day-to-day productivity immediately.”

The Spark-funded AI Foundations course is available to Spark Business customers, with the first of four sessions kicking off in November.

Spark and NZIER’s full Accelerating Aotearoa businesses one technology generation forward report is available here.

About Spark

As New Zealand's largest telecommunications and digital services company, Spark’s purpose is to help all of New Zealand win big in a digital world. Spark provides mobile, broadband, and digital services to millions of New Zealanders and thousands of New Zealand.

About Section

Section offers AI and business training in a fast, live, cohort-based format. The company teaches the essential leadership skills for the digital age, from AI and data fluency to product positioning and problem solving. Section has more than 30,000 students across 97 countries and partners with 250+ enterprise clients to train their future leaders. Founded in 2019 by NYU Professor and serial entrepreneur Scott Galloway and led by CEO Greg Shove, Section is backed by General Catalyst, Learn Capital, GSV Ventures, Activant, and other individual investors, including Jeff Bewkes and Tim Armstrong.

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